


To Go Back Home

by Ragarcye



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Action/Adventure, Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Enemies to Friends, F/M, Military, Outer Space
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-03
Updated: 2020-07-04
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:21:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 12,025
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25046797
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ragarcye/pseuds/Ragarcye
Summary: Marinette is a pilot for the Federation military, wanting nothing but to reclaim her invaded home planet. A spacecraft accident brought her to the base of infamous thieves, and she's forced to help them with their biggest heist yet.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Comments: 3
Kudos: 11





	1. Recording - Alya Césaire

_ LE 5822, September 12, 13:12. Recording from the annual meeting in the war room on Amaterasu. _

“Captain, are you telling us that you are rejecting your promotion to rear admiral?”

“Yes, I am saying that, sir.”

“Well, this is unexpected.”

_ Murmurs are heard on the recording. _

“Why are you rejecting the promotion? You’ll be better compensated and we need more strategists of your level back in HQ.”

“Respectfully, that’s exactly why I’m rejecting it. I believe that my skills are better suited as a captain.”

“Don’t underestimate yourself, general. Your recent successes prove that you’re more than capable to lead a carrier fleet.”

“Let me rephrase my previous statement then, sir. I want to stay a captain because I believe that I can make more of an impact as the head of my own carrier. With all due respect, sir, as a rear admiral, I’ll be forced to sit on the backlines during battles, and that’s if I’m even at the battle at all!”

_ Murmurs among the generals are heard. _

“Captain, please leave the room. Allow us a few minutes to discuss your opinions.”

* * *

“We’ve finally decided, general. We’re promoting you to rear admiral.”

“And what about my wishes, sir?”

“Let me finish. We’re promoting you to rear admiral, however, you will not be in charge of a planet’s base. In light of your achievements, we’ve decided to disband your unit and reform a corps of five carriers under your command that assists other divisions on the outskirts as needed.”

“And which Admiral will I serve under?”

“You will be independent, directly under the command of HQ.”

“Which carriers will be under my command?”

“You may choose them yourself, we’ll be providing you a shortlist of possible carriers.”

“Thank you, commander.”

“You are dismissed.”


	2. Chapter 2

_LE 5823, July 17, 23:04. Carrier 11A, Orbit of Amaterasu, Capital planet of the Federation of the Stars._

Marinette woke up to realize that she was drooling over the paperwork. Her hands were sprawled across the table. The office lights above her were closed, highlighting the dim hue of the cities on the planet below and the distant stars in the full wall windows.

She heard a laugh behind her as she wiped the dried saliva on her lips.

“If you were sleepy, you could’ve asked to take a break, you know?” Alya told her, sipping from a cup of coffee.

Straightening herself, Marinette took out a handkerchief to wipe her drool from the table. “Is it morning already? Did I sleep that long?”

“Oh, no. I just like drinking coffee when I can’t sleep nowadays. It’s just 2300.”

“You do realize, you probably can’t sleep because of the coffee, right?”

“Yeah, but I can’t help myself,” Alya smiled, taking another sip from her cup.

This scene is not uncommon between the two. Marinette wasn’t Alya’s assistant, she was a pilot. Although she did serve under the rear admiral, helping her with paperwork wasn’t actually a part of Marinette’s official duties, but she did so anyway. This arrangement of theirs led to many sleepless nights whenever there was an important mission coming up, including this night.

“Were you having a bad dream?” Alya asked as Marinette sifted through the papers, re-organizing her makeshift bed.

“Sorry?”

“When we were still back home, you only drooled when you had a bad dream.”

Marinette clacked the papers on the table. “It’s nothing.”

Alya raised an eyebrow at Marinette. In response, the pilot rolled her eyes. Alya sighed deeply.

“Attention!” shouted the rear admiral.

Following protocol, Marinette shot up in a salute, even if they were the only ones currently in Alya’s office. Alya had already sent her aides back to their quarters.

“Soldier, as your commanding officer, when I ask you a question. You answer it. AM I MAKING MYSELF CLEAR!?”

“Yes Ma’am!”

“So answer my question. Were you having a nightmare?”

“Yes Ma’am!”

“Good! At ease!”

Marinette slumped to her chair and sighed. “You just love to pull rank, don’t you?”

“Pull rank, what do you mean?” Alya gave an innocent smile. “You were the one who played along with it. If I did that to any other soldier, I’ll probably get reprimanded.” She took a sip from her coffee. “I mean, screaming at a soldier because they won’t share their dreams? Doesn’t that sound ridiculous?”

“You cheat!” Marinette stuck out her tongue.

She expected Alya to give a smile or giggle, but she kept a serious face. “Marinette, I know I was joking, but can you please answer me seriously. What dreams were you having?”

Marinette stood up to reorganize the papers in their proper file cabinets. “Nightmares. Back then.”

Her friend only nodded. “It’s the next mission, isn’t it?”

“Yeah.”

The two were in the general’s office in the lead carrier of their fleet. Hovering about two thousand kilometers from their nation’s capital planet below, they had a perfect view of the stars. Sometimes, it’s difficult to imagine that some of these lights had humans, looking back at them.

Only the shine from the windows lit the room, Alya must’ve closed the office lights when she realized Marinette fell asleep. While the beauty in the capital’s lush green and deep blues were enough to entrance most, Marinette was more drawn to the far window displaying the stars.

“Are you okay? I could pull you from the mission if you’re too tired,” Alya asked. Marinette must’ve spaced out again, just looking.

“No, no. Rose and Juleka would kill me if you pulled out our flight from the mission. I was just thinking. I was wondering where we were from.”

Alya walked up to the window and placed her hand on the glass. “There. That’s the star of our solar system.” She pointed to a small dot, barely discernible from where Marinette was standing.

“Can you zoom in?”

Alya leaned down to put her mug to the floor and swiped two of her fingers on the windows. It was a fairly far star, so she swiped and swiped, and swiped. Other stars in the window’s view had disappeared, and the dot grew to the size that occupied the whole window. It was their sun. She knew it was their sun, of course, but it didn’t look the way it did back when they were still living on the planet.

Tapping on the holographic controls, the view shifted further, to a specific planet, a few hundred trillion light years away. Even if their view of it was blurry, they could tell it was completely black, burnt—a reminder of what took place.

“Dadga,” Alya said, almost as if the name of their home planet was a secret. “It’s been a while since I’ve checked up on it.”

“Really? I check it whenever I can.”

“Why?”

“I’m looking for signs,” Marinette explained. “I asked some of the scientists when we stopped by a research planet before. They said that in a few years, maybe when we’re about 30, the land could support life again. When a blade of grass grows, even just a single blade of grass, we can go back there to rebuild.”

“It’s impossible to see if there’s any grass from this distance.”

“I know. But checking it is a habit I can’t seem to stop.”

“Not a good habit. The observation deck takes far too long to walk to.”

“Oh? Like your coffee doesn’t take away your sleep?”

“Touché.”

They were silent, just taking in the sight of their home planet.

“You want to live back there?”

“Don’t you?”

Alya stared at the window, nodding only after a few moments. “I guess I do.”

Marinette knew it was impossible to tell, but she swore she could pinpoint certain places. Around the equator, that was where their city stood, where she grew up. North to that was the highest peak of the planet, Mountain Joy, where they hiked on her 10th birthday. Just beside it, was her grandparent’s town, where they spent their holidays.

Now, nothing remained but Marinette’s approximation of where these places once were.

Alya broke their silence with a sigh. “You should go to bed. Rose and Juleka would kill me if you don’t make it to your training session in the morning again.”

Marinette filed the last few papers she was holding on before she walked to the door.

“Okay. Goodnight,” Marinette said as she walked out, fully aware that Alya didn’t stop looking.

* * *

Marinette wasn’t Alya’s aide, but whenever she didn’t have any responsibilities—and Alya knew when she didn’t—she’d be dragged to the general’s office to do some paperwork for her friend.

It almost reminded her from when they were just in elementary, when Marinette would get dragged around by Alya into crazy adventures. Her best friend wanted to become a journalist back then, so they were always running around town documenting military activity.

“They’re my heroes!”

In one way or another, Alya was pushed away from journalism. Being drafted for the military put an end to that dream. When they had to evacuate their home planet of Dagda, Marinette was beside Alya as she cried, watching their planet disappear as they rode a shuttle to a nearby planet as refugees.

“I’ll get my revenge,” she said through her tears.

When they were 14, still at the military academy, Alya didn’t stop her habit of pulling Marinette around. They’d sneak out in the middle of the night to gawk at the corvettes and cruisers and whatever spacecraft was visiting. In one way, those nightly escapades inspired Marinette to pursue being a pilot. Alya on the other hand, took notes on the body language of the higher officers who arrived and the manner in which they presented themselves.

By 15, Alya was assigned to be the aide to a captain, deservingly so. She had memorized hundreds and hundreds of tactics and internalized proper military decorum, perfect for an aide to captain. In the same year, after doing well to impress, she was promoted to lieutenant, tasked with organizing pilot flights.

When they were 16, an accident on the bridge led to the death of the captain Alya served under. The vice-captains feared more for their lives, abandoning ship. Having experience with leading as a lieutenant, Alya took over the whole command, and with the tactics she had memorized, saved their carrier and turned the tide of their battle. She was promoted to captain, taking over the very ship she saved, while the defectors were heavily punished.

Having command of her own cruiser, Alya became an irreplaceable cog in the war against the Empire, famously never having lost a battle. While Marinette was fighting against Akumas and Alliance forces, she was in awe at how much Alya was getting done at the other side of the known universe.

At 17, Alya was in consideration for promotion to a rear admiral. She rejected it. The higher ups who wanted to make better use of her skills, compromised with Alya’s wishes of staying on the frontlines with the creation of their current division: a group of five carriers tasked with roaming around the outskirts where military presence is wearing thin.

This was unlike the task of most rear admirals who led a fleet of carriers stationed at specific starzones, called to battle only when needed.

It was only coincidental that Marinette was reassigned under her best friend.

Alya was free to take in carriers from other existing divisions as long as it didn’t compromise the influence they had in certain starzones and they weren’t lead carriers of the other generals.

She chose carrier 35C, Marinette’s carrier, because of their wing of corvettes being ranked 4th in the Federation. Alya needed corvettes for her new division, already having a wing of cruisers from carrier 7D, a wing of bombers from 15A, a wing of battleships from 24C, and her own carrier of 36A, comprised of an assortment of the aforementioned spacecrafts.

With the creation of their new division, these carriers were renamed to 11A, 11B, 11C, 11D, and 11E. Marinette was stationed at 11A, the same carrier Alya boarded.

In the first month of the formation of the new division, neither of which knew they were working within the same division. After all, Marinette ignored announcements about promotions to generals, thinking it had no significance to her duties as a pilot, and Alya thought Marinette became an industry pilot, too wuss to fight on the front lines.

Live chat could only go so far as several starzones over, and sending messages to the other side of the galaxy was too much for Marinette’s pay grade.

It took a chance encounter in the hallway to reunite the two. The very next day after their reunion, the old habits of their relationship resurfaced. Marinette was called to the general’s office and Alya pulled her into doing paperwork for her.

“I need aides I can trust. Some vice admirals are complaining about my age, who knows if they send some spies!”

Marinette groaned, slumped over the table as she helped her anyways. “I’m not your aide.”

“What you’re working on involves classified information, you know? You should be grateful that working as my aide gave you higher clearance.”

“I’m not your aide,” Marinette repeated. “And organizing toilet repairs? Replacing futons that were puked on? Is that classified information?”

“No, but tomorrow it might.”

Although she wasn’t officially Alya’s aide, helping her made the majority of Marinette’s responsibilities. She’d never give up the opportunity to contribute more to their war.

Thankfully, Marinette still got to practice in the training room with her flightmates, Rose and Juleka. Alya considered their training as one of Marinette’s responsibilities, and organized a schedule to accommodate their hours in the simulator.

“You’re the ace flight of your wing, right? You’re useless to me if you become mediocre,” Alya teased.

“Gee. Thanks.”

They were, indeed, known as the best individual flight of corvettes in their wing, but that's only been for the better part of the last six months. Unlike Alya, Marinette officially joined the military when she was 16. She was then assigned with her current flightmates, Rose and Juleka.

The reason their previous lieutenant had for making a flight of the three of them was that they were all 16 year old girls. "That should be enough reason for them to work together, right? Talk about girl stuff."

Needless to say, they didn't work well together.

As pilots of corvettes, fast small spacecrafts specializing in dogfights and taking down bigger ships, having a large chain of command was useless. Moment to moment, a tide of a dogfight could change. Just a few kills could suddenly turn into 1v3 situations or worse.

These days, the system they use is divided into flights of three to five corvettes, each with a specialized "scout" with direct command over its flight, handing out moment to moment instructions. A lieutenant is charged with contacting the scouts and organizing the overall battlefield, giving scouts their next positions or warning them whenever an enemy was approaching.

Marinette was a scout, and her flightmates, well, they didn't trust her intuition. It was understandable. Most scouts were veteran tanks or blitzes whose flights had been disbanded, so it was uncommon for pilots to become a scout right away. It was a very technical job after all, to be able to give orders while fighting on your own.

Even if she was specifically drafted for this position, Marinette's flightmates didn't trust her since she still had a tendency to make rookie mistakes.

At this point, it was impossible to count how many times Marinette put their tank, Rose, in charge of protecting them from enemy fire, was put in danger when she didn't need to. Marinette can’t remember how many incidents she insisted that their blitz, Juleka, in charge of bringing heavy long-range damage, to take shots that were deemed impossible.

It didn't help that the three of them all came from different starzones.

They all spoke Federation common, they wouldn't be drafted otherwise if they didn't know the language, but somehow they offended each other with the littlest of actions. Each flight shared a single room, and the three of them fought more than they had time to sleep.

Apparently, in Amaterasu, people liked to strip down completely when changing clothes. Marinette kept telling Juleka to change in the bathroom. Apparently, in Jowangsin, everyone sang lullabies before they went to bed. Marinette was almost always a few breaths away from pulling Rose's hair. Apparently, in other starzones, it wasn't common to leave your lights open while you slept. Rose and Juleka complained as Marinette fought to keep the light switch on.

"Rose! Shut up!"

"If you don't want me to sing, close the lights already!"

"I can't sleep with the lights off! Do you want your scout to accidentally kill you tomorrow?!"

"As if you wouldn't kill me un-accidentally!"

"That isn't even a word!"

"Chill, guys. Get some rest."

"As if you're any better Juleka! Sleeping without any clothes is weird!"

"Well, you're singing sucks!"

Even if it was just a year ago, Marinette looked back fondly on their immature fights.

After that _incident_ , they eventually got to trusting each other, on and off the battlefield.

They still encounter near-death situations, less now with the tactical genius of Alya, but they’ve improved, definitely. Marinette with her orders just like Juleka improved her aim and Rose did with her shield's timing. Rose now trusted her instructions completely during dogfights, and Juleka didn't complain about the set-ups that Marinette gave her.

It took a year and a half, but they eventually became the ace corvette unit of their wing. Their wing was ranked fourth in the federation, but just a few months ago, they were ranked tenth. You can’t deny the trio contributed to that.

The biggest achievement of their corvette wing was when they took down a carrier. Marinette’s flight was a big factor in that mission, as they were the ones tasked with bringing down a few of the vital points of the spacecraft while the other corvettes distracted the enemy.

In that mission, Marinette was flawless with her instructions, Rose didn’t let a single bullet through to them and Juleka never missed. They were teased by their comrades later on, asking them if they really needed the extra help in bringing the spacecraft down. They did, of course, but they appreciated the compliments.

They share that achievement only with one other wing of corvettes in the whole galaxy.

Corvette flights took down cruisers and bombers, battleships rarely, but bringing down a gigantic carrier by their own was unheard of.

A part of their successes was a habit of theirs that they developed as a squad. Before major missions, Marinette would describe likely orders she'll give in the battle, that way, her flightmates were mentally prepared to execute her instructions and trusted her orders more.

Trust came first, then their friendship. There were a lot of things that surprised Marinette when she got to know her flightmates better.

For instance, Rose was a child star who once did a pre-show for Juleka's father, Jagged Stone. They were acquaintances without being aware of it. It was a fun happenstance, knowing that it was Marinette who made the album art on Jagged's fourth most popular album.

"Whoa," the trio kept saying at random times for weeks after discovering that coincidence.

Nowadays though, with Marinette assisting Alya with various duties, she rarely got to talk with Rose and Juleka outside of practice and general small talk in their quarters before they went to bed.

Her absence led to Rose and Juleka becoming closer. Sometimes, Marinette was afraid that their morale was too high, if there was such a thing. Her two flightmates, at times, were inseparable, trying their best to do whatever activity they can do together. Marinette wondered if her and Alya looked like how Rose and Juleka interacted with one another, and hoped to god that they didn’t.

Marinette didn’t mind this newfound closeness between her flightmates, because as long as they trusted her back the way she trusted them, Marinette was happy.

But she still had her nightmares.

* * *

Humanity has long since expanded since the discovery of Faster-Than-Light travel almost four thousand years ago. Their solution for overpopulation then, was to send humanity to colonize habitable planets across the Milky Way.

Humanity had established itself over a thousand starzones, and just over two thousand astronomical bodies, planets and asteroids included. At least, that was the case before the expedition to the second galaxy.

That expedition was special for two things.

One, they’ve confirmed that it was still possible to improve FTL speed without damaging the spacecraft, harming its passengers, or breaking the fundamental laws of physics.

Second, the scientists thought they’ve finally discovered multicellular life.

The Akumas, they called it.

The first Akumas discovered were quadrupedals, shaped like common livestock. When they brought it back, they realized that the creatures functioned more like parasite than animal.

In the month long trip back to the expedition’s original planet, the spacecraft was overtaken by the creature. Crash landing at Freyja, the beings that came out of the ship were not human, they were Akuma.

When the rescuers came to the crash site, they encountered a blob-like figure. Witness testimonies said many different things; voluptuous gelatin, thick hair, rushing water. However, after they finished gushing about what they saw, they always ended on the same description: it was darker than the blackest night.

This blob devoured the rescuers, and looking for food, found its next meal in the lions of the nearby artificial forest.

Returning to the crash site the next morning, police chalked the incident up as a prank or hallucination, even as the scientists they brought with them to look at their colleagues' ship, were panicking. Unable to properly communicate the jargon required to understand the samples they found on the crash, the scientists were ignored by the police.

When the Akuma attacked the nearby town a week later—its black figure gnawing at its residents as it grew larger, and larger, and larger and gobbled up every living being it could find—the police were helpless against it. They only succeeded in making the monster larger, and they were consumed after finally accepting their efforts were futile.

Freyja was a planet established by the Federation for research into terraforming ecosystems. Less than a hundred thousand people were on it, removing the necessity for any military presence. When the capital of Amaterasu received a distress signal and warnings of an invitation, they assumed the Empire had violated their peace treaty and invaded.

The Federation readied for war. They wrapped in twenty carriers defending nearby planets as a show of force, expecting a fight against Empire forces soon as they arrived; instead, they discovered a chimaera-like creature.

Leaping into orbit, it was as fast as any of their battleships, and as large as their cruisers. It had a lion’s head and a bird’s wings, but had a tail made of a large worm. Thousands of human limbs combined to form its fur. Covered by a membrane the color of soot, it would’ve been difficult to spot in the backdrop of space if they didn’t have proper scanners.

They fought against what they can only think was an alien. They weren’t wrong. The Akumas were indeed aliens. More correctly, the Akumas were parasites that overthrew the aliens.

What happened next is common knowledge.

The Federation carriers defeated the chimaera after a forty-hour battle. Their government questioned the Empire—they thought it was something the Empire had developed, which, of course, they had no clue of. But the Federation didn’t believe them.

They declared a formal war not long after, ignoring the grievances it might cause among the independent colonies caught in the crossfire of their war.

While the Federation lived in fear of the terrifying monster being set on their planets, attacking the Empire for it, the other nation could do nothing but to retaliate.

That began the ten-year war.

Millions died then. Many from both sides, more from the civilians who had nothing to do with it. The two superpowers didn’t fight in their territories, they did so on independent planets that were in between their nations.

These were the first planets from which the humanoid Akumas emerged. Bits and pieces were brought there by the Federation and drifted planet to planet along with Federation carriers until such time it was ready to find a host.

It’s now known that Akumas, as parasites, consume organisms. Human, livestock, rats; it doesn’t choose what. It resides inside the organism’s body, slowly turning its skin into charcoal. Once it has completely gone black, the skin bubbles into a smooth membrane that is immune to traditional weaponry.

This was the creature the police encountered in Freyja. After it took hold of a lion, it enhanced the natural strength and speed of its host. The bullets the police had were useless. Tier-1 Akuma.

But there’s a limit to how much animals and humans a Tier-1 could eat. Once it reaches this limit, it could boil its skin together with another Tier-1, combining their organic mass and the characteristics of its hosts, further enhancing its abilities. Tier-2 Akuma.

Tier-2 Akumas binded together to become Tier-3, the first Akuma Tier capable of propelling themselves into space. The chimaera that fought the twenty Federation carriers was a Tier-3.

When the federation realized the fur of the chimaera was formed of human limbs, they understood that the single Akuma they fought was the amalgamation of the millions of fauna on that planet after countless Tier-2 combined with one another. The fact that they discovered Freyja barren after the battle only proved this.

However, Akumas could become even stronger. Tier-3s binded themselves with other Tier-3s to become Tier-4. Akumas on the fourth tier rarely found another like it to combine with, so Akumas of lower tiers attached itself to it, making it more and more powerful.

Tier-5 was the final level of Akuma development. There’s only ever been one Tier-5 in their history, the very same one that took Marinette and Alya’s families and destroyed their home planet Dadga.

She was just 12. She was crying as Alya’s eldest sister carried her on her shoulders. She was barely able to see her parents waving goodbye through her tears.

“Mom… Dad…”


	3. Recording - Marinette Dupain-Cheng

_ LE 5822, August 20, 16:45. Recording from Carrier 11C, pilot evaluation. Marinette Dupain-Cheng: _

“Major, first of all, congratulations on the promotion.”

“Thank you, Lieutenant.”

“I’m just going to ask you a few questions. This is for a research being conducted back at HQ about pilot moral in relation to skill. You have the right to refuse to answer any questions, but you are encouraged to do so.”

“Copy, sir.”

“First question: why did you decide to be a pilot? We’re aware that you’re in the military because of compulsory enlistment, but with your skillset, you could’ve had a safer job as a warrant officer in our bases on planets. So why did you choose to become a corvette pilot?”

“I got a recommendation from the academy to be a scout, so I took it. I didn’t have to be a pilot, but I wanted to be on the front lines.”

“And why is that?”

“Because my home planet is in Akuma territory.”

“Second question—”


	4. Chapter 4

“Marinette! Wake up!”

She found herself in the quarters that she shared with her flightmates. It was a small room, just enough for a double decker and a small desk, with another bed over that desk. They didn’t have much space, but it was enough for the three of them to stretch together on idle mornings. The three didn’t like how bland the metal-grey surface of their walls were, but they couldn’t do anything about it.

Their biggest rebellion against the military was the color of their bedsheets. Rose had pastel pink, Juleka had a shard of purple which Marinette keeps on forgetting the name to, and her own was a bright rosy red.

When Marinette was finally shaken awake, her pillow was soaked with drool. Her rosy red bedsheet looked more like blood as it marooned. Marinette quickly sat up, wiping her the dried saliva on her cheeks with her sleeves.

“Did I oversleep? What time is it?”

“Chill. We’re on time,” Juleka comforted her. “But you do need to get ready.”

“Thanks for waking me up.”

“No problem. It’s mission day, we need to be prepared. Rose is in the shower.”

“Did you already have breakfast?” Marinette asked.

Juleka rolled her eyes as she set her bed. “Breakfast before the simulator? Are you crazy?”

Marinette was hungry, but she didn’t need to say she skipped dinner yesterday because she was busy helping Alya with the preparations for today’s mission. The mom that was Juleka would be scolding her, and she wouldn’t have a witty comeback.

“Yeah. You’re right,” Marinette chuckled. “Also, wear some clothes while you wait for the shower! You nudist!” She chucked her spit-soaked pillow at her friend.

“Ew! Your saliva!” Juleka laughed as she prepared to chuck it back. Marinette instinctively took her other pillow as a shield.

It was that moment that Rose opened the door to the bathroom. “Marinette is already up? Anything I missed?”

“This.” Juleka grinned, throwing the wet pillow at Rose.

“Ew! I just took a bath!” She shrieked as she kicked it away and returned to the bath. “Give me five more minutes.”

Juleka groaned. ”It’s already my turn!”

“No! I need to clean up again.”

“That was just your foot!”

“It was Marinette’s spit!”

“Hey! My spit isn’t disgusting!”

“Oh yeah, I know. It smells like your perfume.” Juleka laughed as Rose spoke. “But I don’t want to wear my G-suit with your sticky spit on my foot.”

“Fair enough.”

It wasn’t long before they found themselves inside the training room, setting up the simulators. On other days, it’d be bustling with pilots practicing, but on mission days, the room would be left to Marinette and her squad. Only they made an effort to get some last minute piloting training done. Other squads would be discussing their strategies in their quarters.

“This is random, but aren’t you guys worried?” Marinette asked.

“Not really,” Rose answered. “Why?”

“Well, this mission is so close to the capital. One mistake and we might send something hurling down into the planet.”

Juleka yawned, stretching out her back while sitting on the unactivated simulator, still drowsy from having woken up. “It’s a joint mission of five divisions plus planetary defense. Best not to think about it too much, I think.”

“Yeah, that’s true. I guess I’m just anxious.”

Their chairs tilted backwards, just as though their corvettes would before they would launch into battle. “Starting simulator. Starting simulator. Stage, set.” Holograms enveloped them. They could no longer see each other, only the walls of the simulator’s corvette. In front, Amaterasu, in all of its glory, shining below them.

“I mean, we’re only going up against thieves, right?” Marinette said before the simulated G-forces kicked in.

_ Just focus on the simulator _ , she told herself, but perhaps she was just escaping her anxiety. Thieves might be an understatement.

* * *

They were called the Miraculous.

Infamous thieves from the independent planets, they stole from the Empire and the Federation and distributed technology and wealth among the planets from the independent cluster. These nations were scattered in-between the territories of the two major powers, and unaffiliated neither, served as the battlefield for their wars.

The Miraculous are known for three things.

  1. Taking care of low-level Akuma the superpowers can’t bother themselves to take care of.
  2. Acting as a guerilla unit, cutting off supply lines to the bases of the superpowers on the frontlines.
  3. Pulling off unbelievable heists that would be considered impossible.



Their claim to fame was when they stole the Miracle, an experimental battleship that the Empire developed. One of a kind, it had the capability to hold corvettes and FTL travel, qualities of spacecraft that only carriers had.

Before their operation, they hacked radio waves in the Empire capital to announce they were going to steal the battleship. In response, the Empire military stationed even more soldiers in the hangar. Little did they know the thieves stole the identities of these new soldiers, and guarding the battleship, made it easy for them to board and use to escape.

Somehow, they knew that the spacecraft was already finished and capable of FTL travel, and somehow, they managed to pilot it out of the planet. They knew the capital planet’s defenses had a fail safe in place that cancelled any attack on allied crafts, so they were able to escape easily. Chasing after it was impossible. With an experimental engine, it was faster than most Empire carriers, and with its size, proved to be impossible to spot in an open space.

They never gave themselves a name. With their exceptional hacking, they only needed to announce their intention to steal over a public platform and governments knew it was them. When the thieves used the Miracle in their mission, it only made sense to give them a nickname. Miraculous.

What separated them from other thieves was they knew how to use the technology they stole and improved upon it.

The fox, a distraction-type corvette tank, used holotech they stole from the Federation and integrated it into its system. Not only could it disguise itself, but it could make holograms of fake corvettes as it needed. When a Federation carrier once tried to reclaim a planet where there was revolt, the fox used this holotech to cover the carrier’s windows and cameras with images of space. The carrier was forced to retreat thinking the planet had simply disappeared.

The turtle, a shield-type corvette tank, was the product of stolen research worth decades on planetary defenses. Once, an Empire carrier had their battleship cornered, and the turtle was forced to defend it. It held against five carrier missiles. Though it was pushed back, they confirmed that its shield was on-par with a carrier. Impressive for a corvette.

The monkey, a distraction-type corvette tank, had an EMP that emanated from it all times. This made close combat impossible as approaching it disabled major spacecraft functions unless it had the capability to counter the pulses. With only battleships and carriers being able to approach it, smaller spacecrafts like corvettes were effectively useless in situations where it’s present. The experimental EMP technology being stolen was one of the Federation’s biggest recent regrets.

And that was only the ones they were aware of. The snake, the rabbit, the cat, and the decommissioned ladybug all had abilities that made use of technology the Federation intelligence were completely unfamiliar with.

It’s a big galaxy, and even if the Empire and Federation were superpowers and had boundless information, there were still smaller nations and countless independent planets, even if the Akumas had invaded a fifth of the galaxy.

The Alliance was a newly formed nation bordering both the Federation and the Empire. Although it’s named the Autonomous Technocracy Of the Monarchy, ATOM is considered to be independent of its parent nation, the Empire.

Each starzone, each planet, had its own secrets, their own technology. The Miraculous didn’t care who and where they were going to steal. As long as there were people to steal from, they’ll be there, that much they made clear.

It’s no big idea then that those from poorer planets looked up to them—all their earnings went to helping the unfortunate.

* * *

Early morning practice went by quickly, their breakfast was a blur and the pre-mission briefing only served to remind them of the plan they already knew.

The Miraculous was going to intercept cargo that was going to be delivered to the frontlines. Alya’s division would be in charge of delivering said cargo, and that’s why they were currently parked 20,000 kilometers above the surface of Amaterasu. They had a tip from a reliable source that the Miraculous intended to steal the cargo they were tasked to transport, and suddenly, a simple transport mission became a military priority and a joint mission between five divisions and planetary defense.

Their informant said the Miraculous planned to make a move when the cargo was initially being towed to their carrier, around the halfway point. When the thieves finally decide to make their move, that’s the moment that they counter and they’ll trap them.

Two divisions of ready to launch spacecrafts are hidden behind the moon. The many inactive carriers parked nearby are actually two divisions prepared to cut-off any possible escape routes. Planetary defense would have its shield on, removing any possibility for an escape to the planet.

Marinette, Rose, and Juleka’s task would be to accompany the truck that would be carrying the cargo. When the Miraculous attacks, they would be the first line of defense as their allies trap them in.

“Does that make us more valuable or more expendable?” Rose asked a while ago when they were preparing their G-suits.

While the Miraculous were thieves, they didn’t make for bad combatants either. All they had was a battleship and a few corvettes, but they had the capability to go toe-for-toe against a whole wing if need be.

Marinette’s wing of corvettes was the best in the Federation because they were able to bring down a carrier by their own, a feat that used to be considered impossible. They only shared that achievement with one other squad in the galaxy—the Miraculous.

As the best flight in the best wing in the federation, Marinette’s squad were still at a disadvantage at a straight-up dogfight against the Miraculous. They were 42 corvettes in total when they took down the carrier. When the Miraculous did it, they only had six.

Still, they had a fighting chance, even if that chance might not be as large as they liked.

There would be 21 corvettes guarding the cargo, Marinette’s flight included. Even if they were all defeated, they would only need to stall for a few moments for the mission to succeed.

As they ascended from Amaterasu, slowly escaping the gravity and speeding up, Marinette couldn’t help but fiddle with her feet. Tap. Tap. Tap.

The light in her rear mirror was barely as a slight hue. They were in the night’s side of the planet, usually perfect for their original covert transport mission, but Marinette knew that in a few moments, the blinding shields of the planetary defenses would illuminate the battlefield. Tap. Tap. Tap.

They would be forced to use their thermal sensors to battle, something Marinette wasn’t fond of. The usual background of stars would be replaced with complete darkness as their windows would shut and a thermal screen would replace it as a means to pilot. Tap. Tap. Tap.

If so, they wouldn’t be able to tell when the enemy corvettes are charging up their plasma cannons, something precarious in their situation, knowing the cat’s blasts would be enough to burn them to a crisp. Their maneuvering would make it difficult for them to dodge. Tap. Tap. Tap.

Against the Miraculous, corvettes were useless. You needed bombers in the very least for them to hesitate to initiate combat. As the cargo’s defense, they need to hold out for six minutes before the bombers and the cruisers appear. The Battleships would arrive in seven minutes. Tap. Tap. Tap.

Following their simulations, circle the cargo with an unpredictable flight path, making a sphere of sorts with the other corvettes. Leave no space to enter the sphere, if they try to approach, fire, leave no blind spot for them to get through. Tap. Tap. Tap.

“Marinette, you’re making us nervous,” Juleka told her.

“Huh?”

“You're tapping your foot, we could hear it through the comms. Stop thinking too much. It’s alright.”

She stopped and thanked Juleka mentally. Her mind had been wandering. She’s been thinking about the confrontation so much that she hadn’t been paying attention to her surroundings.

This mission is too important to fail. That’s why she’s been so anxious.

Capturing a Miraculous corvette, even just one, would allow them to reverse engineer their technology and apply it on a bigger scale. Imagine having an impenetrable shield or holograms the size of planets. They’ll have an improved arsenal of equipment to deal with the Akumas.

If they could capture even just one of them, she’ll already be one step closer to Dadga.

The lieutenant spoke on their comms. “Miraculous battleship spotted. -10 ° from 4 o’clock. Hold your ground. Goodluck.” A fizzle confirmed that he was signing out.

Zooming in, Marinette saw a green corvette leave the battleship. It was the turtle. She expected other corvettes to follow, but it zipped in their direction alone. A moving dot on the minimap at the side of the controls told her it was going to meet with them soon.

They took position. Corvettes moved in erratic circular motions and soon they formed a sphere of some sort with the truck at the middle. The truck stopped moving, they prioritized the defensive position.

“Both of you in the sphere?”

“Yes,” Rose and Juleka replied.

The turtle accelerated, accelerated, and accelerated. Even as she circled the truck, Marinette knew the green corvette didn’t stop flying to their direction. The small blip on her minimap charged in.

“Hold your ground for 5 minutes, we’ll have the EMP on then. Division A are in pursuit of the battleship. Division B, C and D are surrounding the area to cut off escape routes. We’ll be at your position shortly,” the lieutenant gave them updates.

She’s relieved that other divisions are doing alright, but her heart just beated faster. Just one corvette against 21?

They continued to swirl around the truck, a swarm of grey spacecrafts, and the sole green corvette speeded up more.

“We’ll be there in three mi—”

“The turtle isn’t stopping! He’s going to ram through!” Rose shouted, cutting off the lieutenant’s update.

True enough, Marinette realized it’s close enough to see through the windows that it’s close enough to see clearly. It had it’s signature shield turned on, sized just enough to protect its nose. It was going to make contact at 10… 9… 8…

“Is it crazy?! They’re going to break the tech they want to steal!” Marinette shouted.

7… 6… 5…

The lieutenant’s voice was loud over the comms, making sure everyone heard. “All tanks, maximum shield! Don’t let it get through!”

4… 3… 2..

Rose blared her shields, among with the other 7 tanks. The sphere turned into a cookie of some sort, a flurry of corvettes spinning as smaller circular shields added bumps to its surface.

1… “CONTACT!”

The turtle’s shield’s collided with Rose’s, sending her tumbling into the opposite direction. The turtle had more speed and the stronger shield, she didn’t stand a chance. It didn’t hesitate to zip forward to the truck ramming it and denting its hull.

No one bothered to keep position, the turtle got through. After the turtle darted forward again, the sphere dissolved into a line of corvettes chasing after the turtle.

“F1 to F4, pursue. F5 above, stay with the truck, it could be a distraction.”

Nine corvettes maneuvered back to the truck as Marinette darted to pursue.

“Juleka, let’s go! Rose, what’s your status, are you alright?”

“I’m stable. My main shield is down but I’m okay, I’m right behind you guys.”

“Copy that.”

Even if the turtle had technology foreign to them, it was still a tank, and carrying all that shields took away from its speed. Scouts like Marinette who’s corvettes were made for speed zoomed forward, catching up to it.

She was just behind pilots who tried to ram into the turtle. A reckless move, because the turtle only activated it’s shield again, repelling that corvette and slamming it against the other who was in pursuit. Marinette dodged the two hurdling space crafts in her direction and moved forward, she was now the closest.

“Two minutes until the activation to EMP.”

Scouts only carried light weapons. Once she was within range, Marinette showered the turtle with rounds of a kinetic rifle. The turtle didn’t bother to dodge. Instead, it activated it’s shield. The kinetic bullets were too small to create a disturbance as it blasted back to her.

The other corvettes caught up to her, she was running out of light kinetic rounds, so she moved to the side and let the blitzes take her position.

“Juleka, do you have a clear shot?”

“Yeah, plasma cannon is charging. Would it get through?”

Marinette tailed the turtle from underneath it, just outside the range where she would make contact with the shield.

“Its shield is impenetrable, but you could shoot it to change its direction slightly. I think I can get it to a stop.”

“Copy.”

Marinette went under the Turtle, predicting it’s maneuver and moving parallel to it. Left turn, tilt up, left turn, dive. She had to time it perfectly otherwise contact with the shield would blast her away.

“Lieutenant, can you tell other blitzes to shoot where Juleka would fire?”

“Roger.”

The turtle continued to move, trying to get them off its track. Marinette wondered what it was doing, they had better speed, even if they can’t damage it, it had no chance for escape. They followed whatever direction it decided to go to.

“I’m charged up,” Juleka said.

“Copy.” Marinette ascended and placed herself just in front of the turtle. “Fire!”

Juleka and the other blitzes fired their plasma cannon at the turtle. The plasma was absorbed by the turtle’s shield but the sudden jerk forward crashed it into Marinette. Without a shield, she blasted off, spinning. If her helmet wasn’t locked in place, her head would’ve hit the controls several times over.

Just barely, the turtle was put to a crawl. Before it managed to accelerate again, the tanks arrived and surrounded it. Shield against shield, without speed, the turtle was trapped.

“Marinette, are you okay?!” Juleka asked.

“Dizzy. How’s the turtle?”

“Trapped,” Rose grinned, being one of the tanks keeping the turtle in place.

“One minute to the activation of EMP, 30 seconds to the activation of planetary defense,” the lieutenant reminded them.

Once the planetary defenses brought up it’s shield, the illumination coming from it would cause all their cameras to malfunction. Their windows would have to be shut tight and replaced with thermal monitors, otherwise they’d be piloting blind. Enemy and ally would be indistinguishable besides the minimap just beside the controls.

Then, when the EMP is activated, all the corvettes in the vicinity would revert to safety mode. They wouldn’t be able to control anything, but neither would the turtle. They would hover, inactive, for a minute until the battleship came to secure the Miraculous corvette and bring them to safety.

The comms would be down. For as long as need be, they would be alone in the cockpit of their corvette, alone with their thoughts and the dim red light of the safety mode.

“Ten seconds to activation of planetary defense.”

Marinette had just stabilized, and dizzy from the spinning, fumbled the controls and just barely managed to shut her windows. The thermal monitors came up, and guiding herself with the mini map, she approached the shields of their tanks bunched together.

A loud buzzing filled her ears, and the thermal monitors went white. It was scorching outside, hot even for planetary standard. Marinette’s eyes followed to blue light of the cooled corvettes. There was the clump of tanks surrounding—

“The turtle disappeared!”

“What?!”

As it disappeared, the shields of their tanks clashed against each other and shot them backwards. On her minimap, it showed two corvettes moving away from the mess of a battlefield. Other corvettes darted towards it, and Marinette followed, swerving from dizziness.

Only a single scout was available to catch up to it, and after a slip-up, was blasted back after getting too close to the turtle’s shield. Blitzes and tanks still chased after it until it finally disappeared into the white background of heat of their thermal sensors.

“EMP activating now.”

Then everything shut down. A red hue filled Marinette’s cockpit as she was left alone with the sound of her breathing. She would have to keep still as is for the next hour.

They failed the mission.

_ My head hurts. _ That’s all Marinette could think as her adrenaline started to disappear.


	5. Recording: Juleka Stone

_ LE 5822, August 20, 17:18. Recording from Carrier 11C, pilot evaluation. Juleka Stone. _

“Before the evaluation, I just want to congratulate you on your promotion, major.”

“Thank you sir.”

“Okay. I'm just going to ask you a few questions. This is for a research being conducted back at HQ about pilot morale in relation to skill. You have the right to refuse to answer any questions, but you are encouraged to do so.”

“…”

“First question: Why did you decide to be a pilot? We know your father disapproved of this and wanted you to continue your music career. You certainly have enough money to avoid enlistment. Why did you join the military and become a pilot?”

“My brother.”

“I’m sorry?”

“My brother left with my mother when our parents separated. They left for an Alliance planet, and I wanted to look for him. I love music, but I didn’t want to make a career out of it if he wasn’t there to see it.”

“And why did you become a pilot?”

“I needed to be on the frontlines, and it was the only slot available then.”

“Okay. Moving on to the second question—”


	6. Chapter 6

The worst thing about the hour before they were brought back to safety was the headache.

The world was spinning, and spinning, and spinning. She wasn’t sure if she had fainted or not, but her vision had been blacking out. All Marinette was sure of was that when she was awake, her head hurt like hell.

She was thankful for the safety mode options she’d adjusted pre-mission. She would’ve gone insane if her corvette had a blinking light and beeping noise to indicate danger. Pilots like her didn’t need to be reminded they were in enough danger already.

“I’m opening your hatch.”

The entrance to the corvette from the top opened, revealing Marinette to the light of the hanger. She groaned. Someone pulled her up. The warm metal of her corvette was comfortable through the layers of her G-suit.

“Medic!”

She realized then that the person who pulled her up was an engineer in-charge of corvette maintenance.

The world had slowed its spinning, just enough for her to make sense of her surroundings. Everyone has made it back, but she wouldn’t be able to say the same about the other divisions. It’s never a good mood when they return with the death of a soldier, did the Miraculous bring a whole carrier, as they had before?

“What happened?” Marinette asked the engineer, right before she was dragged onto a stretcher.

“Don’t worry about it, Ma’am. Just focus on getting some rest.”

Marinette didn’t want to, but her body made her decision for her. The world faded from her consciousness.

* * *

_ LE 2823, July 19, 21:36. Infirmary of Carrier 11C, Currently in FTL On Route for Zeus. _

“You smell like puke,” Rose hugged Marinette.

Juleka pulled her back. “Hey, don’t hug too tightly, she might lose consciousness again.”

They were at the infirmary. After large scale missions, it would usually be bustling with nurses and doctors and patients who screamed to know if they were going to keep their limb or not. Instead, the large hall was left with five patients and their visitors. Marinette wanted to think that Rose was loud enough to make for the usual noise.

“Hey, you guys. Everything all right?” Marinette said, giving her best grin.

Juleka rolled her eyes. “We should be the ones asking that. You’re the one in the hospital bed, remember?”

Her headache was gone, but no, Marinette’s memories were fuzzy. She couldn’t remember.

“What happened?”

Her two flightmates sighed in unison.

“Well, first things first, you have a concussion. What you did there was reckless,” Juleka scolded her.

“But it worked,” Marinette grinned. “Didn’t it? You had the turtle pinned down.”

Rose sighed. “It got away, saved by the rabbit.”

“Huh?”

“Just before the EMP activated, the rabbit came and saved the turtle.”

“What about the battleship? We were chasing after it, right?”

“It was an illusion. The engineers are saying they probably improved on the holotech, again.”

“Casualties?”

“Only minor injuries from the five divisions. Everyone injured from our division is all here.”

“So we failed, huh?”

“Yeah.”

Marinette had been sitting up, being pulled up a while ago when Rose came in for a hug. Hearing all this news, she let herself fall to her back, enjoying the unusual softness of her bed, but her head ached as it collided with the pillow. She groaned again.

“You had a pretty bad one there,” Juleka reminded her. “Try not to move that much.”

Rose giggled. “You should have seen yourself when you were pulled from the corvette. You were covered in puke.”

“What?! Is Hamster okay?”

Hamster was the name of Marinette’s corvette. Its official label is F11-1, but Marinette calls it Hamster. Likewise, Rose calls her corvette, originally called F11-3, Flower. In their free time, they’ve made a story about Flower and Hamster going on a journey to save their friend from the clutches of namelessness. Juleka resisted giving her corvette a nickname.

“Oh, she’s all right. If by all right you mean fully functional with the smell of reeking puke, then yeah, she’s all right,” Rose continued.

Marinette brought her hands to her head, assisting her neck as she shook it. “Oh no, how am I going to be able to pilot then?”

“You won’t. You’re not allowed to until the doctor sees you fit for combat,” Juleka reminded her.

“Oh.”

“And I doubt Alya would allow her aide to escape paperwork.”

“Oh…” Marinette said again, realizing her duties as a pilot would be replaced with Alya’s insurmountable paperwork.

“Hey, don’t worry about it too much. You’re forced to stay here for three more days, so the general can’t do anything to you before then.”

“Three? I thought the standard protocol for concussions is four days at the infirmary?”

“Yeah, and you’ve slept through the first day.”

Marinette almost thought they were kidding. She didn’t feel rested at all, in fact, she felt tired and wanted to go back to sleep. The headache was gone, and in its place, fatigue.

“Did you stay by me the whole night?”

“Of course not, we prioritize our comfort. We slept in our quarters,” Juleka told her.

“In our defense though,” Rose butted in, “We took turns watching over you. I’m actually kind of sleepy right about now.”

Marinette glared at Juleka, but she just gleamed at her concussed friend with a grin. Marinette rolled her eyes, at least, attempted to do her best without getting herself dizzy.

“That’s sweet, but don’t you have anything else to do?”

They spend the next few minutes talking about what happened in detail and what their division planned to do.

Juleka and Rose said the post-mission briefing felt more like a funeral than a meeting. Apparently, everyone didn’t want to accept the fact that they were out-prepared by the Miraculous, especially since they were so sure they had the upper hand this time around.

Alya’s division was ranked fourth in the Federation. Those who partook in the mission with them were ranked second, fifth, sixth, and eighth. Knowing five top ranked divisions, hundreds of spacecrafts at the ready, were out-played by three corvettes and an illusion of a battleship, their morale wasn’t doing all that well.

“Only three corvettes were at the battlefield?”

“We didn’t know for sure. The rabbit was invisible from the thermal monitors before it saved the turtle, so we can’t be sure if they were only three.”

“Who was the third corvette?”

“The fox had to run the holotech. There was no sign of it, but everyone was pretty sure it had been there. We wouldn’t have been fooled by the illusion of the battleship otherwise.”

After a meeting between the division leaders, they were all sent back to the frontlines. Some against the Empire, others against the Akuma territory. At the moment, Marinette’s division was in FTL, traveling with the cargo back to their original position at the frontlines against the Alliance.

“Speaking of, what was in the cargo in the first place?”

“It’s closed off in the hanger. Besides a few engineers and those close to the general, no one knows what it is. Alya told us pilots would be briefed about it when all injured were ready for combat again.”

She was lucky that it took a week to get back to the Alliance frontlines. She would hate it if she was forced to sit through a battle, even if it were only minor ones.

It wasn’t long before Rose and Juleka had to say goodbye. They still had things to do, even if Marinette was currently decommissioned.

She slept for most of the day, waking up for no more than a few minutes at a time when a nurse or doctor stopped by to make sure she was doing alright.

When Alya visited her, she was thankful that she didn’t carry the same dull face of every low morale soldier who walked into the infirmary.

“Wow, you look cheery.”

“The opposite, actually. I’m smiling because if I let frustration creep even just a bit, you might see me punching a stranger just to get some steam off.”

Marinette chuckled. “At least somehow, those who see you might think there’s no need to feel so down.

“Oh? You didn’t hear? I’m one of the reasons all these people feel down. I gave everyone extra work.”

“What?! Why?”

“To be more productive,” Alya said, taking a seat at Marinette’s bedside and giving her a cookie. “Cookie for your troubles.”

“Bribery, eh? I’m still kinda dizzy, I don’t think I could help you with things just yet.”

“Can’t I just give my injured best friend a gift to make her feel better?” Alya clutched her heart. “You’re hurting my feelings. Am I that much of a bad friend?”

Marinette giggled at her friend’s dramatics. “Of course not! Come here.” She leaned in for a hug but Alya pushed her away.

“As much as I would love to hug you, girl, you still stink of puke.”

For the first time since she was confined to the infirmary, Marinette sniffed herself. “Oh…”

“The nurses cleared all of the puke, but you still smell. No offense, but you should take a bath.”

“Am I good enough for a bath yet?”

“I don’t know,” Alya shrugged. “Anyways, I just stopped by to make sure you’re alright. Everything’s busy after that mission, I don’t think I’ll be able to visit you all that much. I think I’m being blamed by the higher ups for the mission. It wasn’t even my plan!”

“See you soon, Alya.”

“See you soon, and stop by my office when you’re feeling better. I need the extra help.”

“Roger.”

Marinette asked what she could do about her smell, and she was told that she could take a bath already if she was well enough to walk without wobbling. Needless to say, she tripped and fell down after a few meter strut. Her balance was still off.

The nurse took down notes and helped her back to bed.

“Not that bad, actually. You should be able to take a shower when you wake up tomorrow morning,” the nurse told her.

She was able to sleep through her stench, thankfully. Marinette hoped she would be able to rest better after the horrible smell of puke was finally washed away.

On the third day of her confinement, fresh from a shower and well enough to handle loud noises, she spent her time watching news around the Federation that she hadn’t caught up to.

Marinette started off with the good news. Juleka’s dad is releasing a new album,  _ I wonder if Juleka could get me a copy _ . New vacation spot, new kind of game, more celebrity news, cute cats. She skimmed through the announcement about the advancements in FTL technology; Marinette was already aware of it, being a part of the military. 

She swiped the current article she was on and read the hard news. Strangely, their failed mission had been broadcasted to be a success. Marinette didn’t support propaganda, but she understood the military’s thinking. If they had announced they were beaten just outside the capital planet’s atmosphere, it would reduce the masses’ trust in the military. She hated it, but bit her tongue and forced herself to understand.

Images of the battle had been shown.

“While the military had not been able to capture a Miraculous pilot, they had acquired enough data to recreate the shields of one of the corvette. According to General Cesaire, this technology could be the base for a new generation of plasma shields,” the article read.

That was a straight-up lie, and a good one at that. The military scientists had already developed a new type of shield for spacecraft use, so they could easily support their lie with evidence of progress.

She swiped again, moving to the next one. Marinette read the headline a few times over, she couldn’t believe it.

“Miraculous supports rebellion, drives Federation out of Zeus.”

Zeus was the planet they were going to, that’s where they were originally stationed. If was a key base against the Alliance, without that planet, it would be difficult to keep fighting. She already knew what they’re next mission was, even without any briefing. To reclaim Zeus from the rebellion.

When her friends entered the infirmary with a piece of paper, her suspicions were confirmed.

“So, what’s the plan with Zeus?”

“How’d you know?”

“I read the news.”

Juleka rubbed her temples. “I’m so frustrated. How stupid was D’Argencourt?! He only had one job! One job!”

“Lower your voice, Juleka, we’re not the only ones here,” Marinette told her.

It was no wonder she was frustrated. Her brother and mother had been missing since the Federation had declared war on the Alliance. It was around the same time as her parent’s divorce, and even if she loved her father, Marinette knew Juleka wanted nothing more than to know her mother and brother were safe.

She told Marinette way back when they were just starting to gel together as a squad. Her father, even if he were divorced from her mother, still considered his ex-wife his close friend. They had contacts in the Alliance, they lived there as a family after all, but they couldn’t find their missing family members.

“Just like thin air,” Juleka told Marinette.

Against the wishes of her father, Juleka took matters into her own hands and became a pilot. When they visited planets, especially planets they had been before, she’d interrogate local officials handling refuges and demanded to be taken to make-shift camps. They’ve been to twenty Alliance planets since that conversation, and there was not a single trace of her family. At least, that was the case before they went to Zeus.

Zeus was one of the first colonies established in the galactic diaspora. The first colonies were known to be well-developed after the era of silence, but after two thousand, Zeus had still been a mess. It wasn’t unified as a planet. There were several nations across its surface speaking different languages and had different cultures. People say, if you want to visit ancient Earth, go to Zeus. Wars were common, tensions were high. There wasn’t a single place on the planet you’d consider safe.

When the Federation colonized it, it didn’t make much of a difference in establishing peace.

They took hold of a quarter of the planet and built a base. Zeus' position in regards to nearby planets was perfect. They were only a few thousand lightyears from the Alliance proper, and it could be used as a checkpoint when going to the Empire.

That said, its inhabitants didn’t like this foreign presence. For the first time in their planet’s history, they’ve banded together and rebelled against the Federation.

They weren’t much of a threat, being left behind in regard to technological development, they had no answer for the Federation’s weapons. However, the Federation didn’t underestimate these rebellions—there was in no way they were going to give up such a strategic point in the star map, and answered the rebellions with force. This only served to make the Zeus’s citizens to rebel even more, but with Federation presence, their rebellions had been brought to a standstill.

While Juleka had never set foot on the planet before they were stationed there, she’s been in contact with an informant who insisted he had information on her family.

Now that the rebellion had finally driven the Federation out though, there would be no chance for Juleka to talk to this informant.

“When’s the mission briefing going to be?” Marinette asked.

“Two days from now,” Rose answered her, covering Juleka’s mouth just in case she spoke with profanity that might disturb other injured soldiers in the infirmary. With her other hand, she took the paper from Juleka’s hand and handed it to Marinette. “Write your name here.”

“What’s this for?”

Rose grinned. “An application for a new ride. Remember the cargo the Miraculous wanted to steal? It’s a corvette, and they’re going to choose who’s going to be the pilot tomorrow.”

* * *

_ LE 2823, July 11, 19:14. Orbit of Amaterasu. _

“Oh my god, that was scary. Why did we think this was a good idea?”

“Just suck it up, Nino.”

“Still, that was scary!”

The turtle, the fox, and the rabbit drove off into the distance. They were in the airspace of the past. Escaping by regular means would be impossible against the five divisions with thousands of ships at the ready to capture them.

“Do you guys have your eyes closed?” Alyx asked.

“Of course,” Nino said, closing his eyes at that very moment.

“I do,” Lila replied. “And Nino, we both know you’re lying.”

“No I didn’t!”

Being in the past, they can’t make contact with anyone or anything, otherwise their original timeline might get messed up. Alyx was in charge of keeping the order of time, and hated transporting themselves into the past to escape.

“Less time travel, less anomalies, please, please, please don’t make my head hurt anymore than you need to,” she explained to them before the mission.

They had to escape in a similar fashion once before, when they stole their battleship, the Miracle. Alyx, she disappeared for a month, fixing the continuum and keeping sure it followed its linear path. When she returned, she came back in the form of a fourteen year old girl. Knowing she used to be second oldest in their group, it took some time getting used to.

“How long do we have to keep my eyes closed.”

“Open it only when I tell you to,” she sighed. “I’m already having a headache knowing I’ll have to fix the anomalies that you created when you opened your eyes.”

“I didn’t even see anything!”

“Oh, so you do admit to opening your eyes?”

Nino just shut-up. He would’ve said something, but after how their mission went, he best kept quiet. His task was simple, intercept the cargo, drop Tikki off, and escape. Alyx helping him escape was their plan Z. Nino messed up, big time. In his defense, they didn’t expect thousands of spacecrafts ready to capture them.

“Hey, I asked you a question, answer me.”

“Uh, yeah. I only closed them when you reminded me.”

Alyx sighed. “You better be thankful we’re in the middle of nowhere and there’s nothing to see.”

“I mean, there is that planet over there—”

“I dare you to try.”

Nino decided he was going to keep still. For the better part of an hour they flew without speaking. They were close, for sure, but if he had messed up just a little bit more, Alyx would’ve been forced to return to the time and place of the battle and create a timeline where Nino escaped seamlessly without what seemed like divine intervention. Even if it was just a second, they have given the federation a clue to time travel, something Alyx would dedicate her whole life to prevent.

To Nino and to others, they would only remember a universe where he was able to escape thanks to his amazing piloting. He’d be bragging about how great he was, and only Alyx would remember how miserably he failed.

When they stole the Miracle, they were all celebrating the success of what they thought was an impossible mission, or so they thought. When Alyx returned after a month in her new adolescent body and told them what actually happened in the original timeline, by Master Fu’s orders, they treated Alyx like a princess for the next year.

“You can open your eyes now.”

_ LE 2823, July 18, 20:01. Amaterasu Starzone. _

Nino felt it, the same feeling way back when they stole the Miracle, a sensation which he could only describe as his soul being torn apart from him. Of course, he ignored it, his heart was still beating from the adrenaline after piloting the turtle through that mess of a battle.

“Dudes?”

“Yeah?”

“Now that,” Nino coughed, “a week has passed since the battle, I want to say sorry for messing up.”

“You do realize that technically since we went to the past and back to the present, not that much time has passed?”

“But technically, we just came from a week ago so technically a week has already passed.”

“Corny,” Lila said.

“Yeah, corny,” Alyx agreed.

Lila giggled. “But I forgive you, Nino. After all, I have a video of how bad your piloting was, it would be cruel if I were to show this to everyone and not forgive you at the same time.”

“You have a video?!”

“I only set-up the battleship illusion. What else was I supposed to do except stand back and watch you fight against those pilots?”

“You could’ve helped me!”

“But then I wouldn’t have this video.”

“Delete it. Pretty please, dude?”

“Oh, I’m sure you’d need to watch it. After all, don’t you want to improve?” Lila said with just the right amount of snark.

Alyx laughed maniacally. “Send me a copy? There’s still a bit of time before we get to the ship.”

“C’mon, Alyx. You don’t need to watch that.”

“Oh? I think I do. I’ll still have to time travel to make sure they didn’t manage to figure out time travel because of you. Or would you prefer I spend my time returning there and recording other angles of your piloting?”

Nino groaned. He didn’t completely understand how Alyx’s time powers work, there were a lot of rules and exceptions, but what he hated most of all was the fact that as long as the event had passed, Alyx was free to tell anyone about what happened. After all, it never really happened. She found a way to bring back photos and videos from what essentially was a different universe, so it made telling stories about what-ifs quite interesting. It was fun as long as you weren’t the topic of interest.

There were still limits, of course, her gallery was a mess and she had images from what was yet to come, reminders for future events she needed to watch out for—but when she had something especially embarrassing, she didn’t hesitate to show the group.

“Please don’t.”

Alyx laughed again. “Trust me,” Alyx continued. “It’s not that bad compared to what’ll happen.”

It might’ve been words of comfort from the near-omnipotent Alyx, but to Nino, it only sounded like a warning.


End file.
